Category Archives: Local Photography

Articles of interest, Landscape, Local Photography, Meetings and outings, Night Photography

The MV Trader wreck at Baltray

December 24, 2014 DPS

Our night photography group got together a few weeks ago to catch a sunrise, using the old MV Trader wreck on Baltray strand as our backdrop.
The wreck is a popular landmark for photography enthusiasts, and there appears to be less of it every time we visit as the years take their toll.

It was an early start as we had to make sure we were there a little before the sunrise at 08:04 to allow us time to get setup.

Outings like this allow us to practice some sunrise shots as well as using the incoming tide to attempt reflections.

A brief history of the wreck

The MV Irish trader was a Hartlepool motor vessel built in 1949 grossing 344 ton’s. According to Wrecksite.eu, she was carrying 410 tonnes of fertiliser on her last voyage which was bound for Bristol in England.
However she ran aground in 1974 on Baltray strand and became the local landmark that we have all come to know.
Over the years, she has gradually been reduced to a small portion of the bow and an even smaller stern.

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Articles of interest, Local Photography, Street Photography

My Drogheda by Wayne Floyd

December 3, 2014 DPS

Part one of a two part series from one of our members – Wayne Floyd

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I have been a native of Drogheda for the past 42 years. I love the town, the people and what it has to offer. It was once said to me that Drogheda is the centre of the universe, and it totally is for me. Even with its familiar grey old buildings, they have stood the test of time and that only brings character to them. In the last ten to twelve years the town has undergone a massive change. Some would say for the better but for me it’s not the same. I wish they had made West street pedestrian only and allowed more space for street furniture. I also wish we had a town square. It is a great town but like all growing towns, cracks begin to show, just my opinion. Here are a few photographs I have taken of the town. Taken with the camera on my phone. I love the square format again all my images have the same border and format. Please feel free to comment good or bad. Its always good to get feed back.

Thank you all, Wayne J Floyd.

This Image was taken with a Samsung S3. I used the App Vignette to place a border and change it from a colour image to black and white. I used a high contrast to get the blacks darker.

This Image was taken with a Samsung S3. I used the App Vignette to place a border and change it from a colour image to black and white. I then rant it through Instagram and again changed the border. I felt that this image had to be taken to capture the loneliness I perceived as an onlooker. Its not that I felt sorry for him, more wondering ‘what he was thinking’.
I went to primary school with this man.

This Image was taken with a Samsung S3. I used the App Vignette to place a border and change it from a colour image to black and white.

This Image was taken with a Samsung S3. I used the App Vignette to place a border and change it from a colour image to black and white. I then ran it through Instagram, again I changed the border and also the Black and white to a filter called ‘sutro’. I decided last year that on the 28th of every month I would post a mini-series on one topic. Containing six photographs this is the first one of the series called ‘Pearse Park’ (must be said with a Drawda accent).

Pearse Park for Drogheda Photographic Society

This Image was taken with a Samsung S3. I used the App Vignette to place a border and change it from a colour image to black and white. I then put it through the App Snapspeed, again I changed the border and added a out of focus filter to the edges. This is one of my many Street Photography images. This is a field of Photography which I like a lot, Street Photography has really grown since the introduction of mobile phone photography.

This Image was taken with a Samsung S3. I used the App Vignette to place a border and change it from a colour image to black and white. I then put it through Instagram, again I changed the Black and white to a filter called ‘Hefe’. This is another image from my Street Photography collection.

Articles of interest, Landscape, Local Photography, Meetings and outings, Night Photography

The Old Drogheda Cement Quarry

September 24, 2014 DPS

Back in June and July, we got a chance to visit the old Irish Cement quarries in Drogheda.

The Main Pond

The quarry is a huge unused landmass that is (unfortunately in our view) closed to the public, it was last in use as the Drogheda Corporation landfill site, which prior to that was a large limestone quarry used by Irish Cement since the 1930s.

However due to the lack of human interference, It has become an excellent pocket of urban wildlife, as well as a great location for abandoned urban scenes with some small areas of disused buildings and long since vandalised equipment.

Ian’s pic of the main quarry pond is a six photo stitch shot at 24mm. iso 100. f18. shutter speed 1/50. He also used a graduated filter which helped to bring down the brightness of the sky so it wouldn’t be blown out with the slow shutter speed. The shutter was that slow because of the small aperture used.

We managed two separate visits, once on a weekend afternoon and the second was a night shoot in July.

For the day outing, the quarry’s plant life was ablaze with colour, and the beautiful sunshine added to the enjoyment of the day, and for the night outing we got to shoot some sunset scenes as well as some steel wool amid some abandoned vehicles and equipment, needless to say we left everything exactly as we found it, .

Just click on any of the images to get a larger view.

One of our members pretending to be a Tree during my sunset shot

A Steel Wool sample from our night out in the old Drogheda Quarry

A Steel Wool sample from our night shoot in the old Drogheda Quarry

Articles of interest, Local Photography

Drogheda Maritime Festival

June 5, 2014 DPS

There’s plenty on offer this weekend from the arrival of the tall ships (they’re smaller than you’d expect) to jet ski and wake boarding displays. These world class athletes will perform tricks, inverts and jumps..

Inver Colpa rowing club are hosting a race from Clogherhead to Drogheda Town with the triathlon club hosting a two kilometre swim in the Boyne for a few very brave souls.

For those feeling flush or wanting to look around the latest model of car, this years Drogheda Motor Show is being held in conjunction with the Maritime festival. Other on shore activities include an artisan food quarter, boat building workshops, maritime photography and art zone, funfair and plenty more.

This would be a great opportunity to get some unique shots of Drogheda (or keep the kids quiet) with something for everyone with the tall ships, action shots of the events on the water, static motor show, street photography to long exposure shots at night time which could have distinctive shots of the funfair at night.

The weather is fair this weekend with highs of up to 18 degrees and only a wee bit of rain. 1mm on each day.

Attached is the maritime festival website, schedule and some photos that I managed to capture at last years festival (not my best work). Others in the club may have some better photos and photos from around the town (I know Damian has a great photo of a ferris wheel from last year).

http://www.maritimefestival.ie/boyne-boat-race

http://www.maritimefestival.ie/programme#page

A brief history of the wreck

A local amateur group interested in all things photography